1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a film bag that is formed by means of folding a film, has a front surface, a back surface, a laid-in first side fold as well as a laid-in second side fold, and is closed off by means of a longitudinal sealing seam as well as a head sealing seam. A re-closure strip is attached on the inside surface of the film bag, below the head sealing seam, which strip releasably connects the first side fold with the adjacent front surface and back surface of the bag. The first side fold forms a re-closable chute when a bag segment is cut off or torn into above the re-closure strip to remove goods filled into the bag.
Film bags having the structure indicated are suitable for packaging bulk goods, for example dry food for animals, and have a re-closure that makes it possible to pour out, i.e. remove the content of the packaging in partial amounts, in other words in portions. Removal takes place through an opening in the first side fold, whereby the side fold can be pulled out after the re-closure has been opened, and can be used as a chute. The opening is re-closable. The re-closure can be configured as a so-called zipper closure that has strip-shaped groove and tongue elements that can be manually connected with one another, under pressure, and then form a catch connection or clip connection. Other re-closures, e.g. hook-and-loop closures or re-closures having a self-adhesive strip, are also possible.
2. The Prior Art
A film bag having the characteristics described initially is known from WO 2004/092025 A2. It consists of a film folded into a tube. The tube, produced by folding, has laid-in side folds and is closed off on the mantle side by means of a longitudinal sealing seam. A re-closure strip is attached on the inside surface of the film bag; it releasably connects one of the side folds with the adjacent front and back surface of the bag. The re-closure strip is longer than the width of the side fold and is attached to the insides of the side fold to the adjacent bag surfaces that form the front and back surface of the bag. The head sealing seam closes off the upper edge of the film bag and extends, as a straight sealing seam, over the entire width of the film bag.
For first-time use, a bag segment above the re-closure disposed on the inside of the bag must be removed along a weakening line or a marking imprinted on the outside of the bag. Without printed information, it is not evident to a user how and on what side the closed film bag must be opened. The correct handling is not intuitively evident. Furthermore, it is disadvantageous that after the film segment has been removed, an opening forms in the film bag, which extends vertically from the re-closure up to the upper edge of the film bag, and cannot be closed again. Another disadvantage is the unsatisfactory shape stability of the film bag. During use, the chute opens very far, whereby the bag loses its shape, to a great extent, on the removal side. Because of the low shape stability, handling of the opened bag is difficult. Particularly in the case of large bags, handling of the opened bag and metered removal of the goods filled into it require significant skill on the part of the user.
A side fold bag having a re-closable removal opening in a side fold is also known from DE 201 15 181 U1. The head sealing seam is a straight seam and closes off the upper edge of the film bag. Therefore, with this bag as well, it is not easily evident how and at what location the film bag must be opened for first-time use.
Parallel to the head sealing seam, another horizontal seam is provided, which extends from the outside of the second side fold to the ends of the re-closure strip attached to the inside of the front and back surface. Because this sealing seam is adjacent to the ends of the re-closure, the bag is relatively tight when the re-closure is closed, even in use. The side folds consist of separate film strips folded in V shape, which are laid in between the front surface and back surface of the bag and connected with these surfaces by longitudinal sealing seams. Broad seams are necessary in order to seal the film bag, which form outside edges of the bag that are rigid in shape and impart good shape stability to the film bag. It is a disadvantage that the sealing seams significantly restrict the opening width of the re-closure, which makes the removal of goods filled into the bag difficult, particularly in the case of larger pieces.